5 strategies to enhance your online presence

Have you ever wondered how to be the first choice when someone searches for a doctor online?

Doc, you're about to find out!

Join us as we explore the 5 strategies to improve your online presence, tailored for "doctors aiming to stand out in the vast digital ocean."

How does online positioning or SEO work?

To avoid rephrasing what we already have, let's refer to the definition of medical SEO [or online positioning] from our basic glossary to understand healthcare marketing:

Medical SEO involves optimizing your online presence so that people searching for medical services can easily find you.

It's a long-term strategy that involves using relevant keywords, creating quality content, and enhancing your website's visibility.

SEO doesn't yield immediate results, but well-executed SEO will help you stay at the top of your niche for months and years.

Search engines handle thousands of algorithms adept at navigating through millions of web data to provide users with the desired answers.

For example, someone with a toothache might enter "how to relieve toothache" into Google, Safari, or another search engine. Instantly, they have a vast list of articles, blogs, videos, pages, and recommendations on the topic.

Algorithms bring forth the best-positioned options based on criteria like:

• relevance and quality of content,
• web authority,
• site structure and architecture, and,
• loading speed, among others.

Assisting you in meeting these criteria is the goal of our article.

5 Strategies to improve your online presence

If you want to be the first choice when someone searches for a doctor online, here's what you should do.

#1 Keywords

There's a reason why keywords are everywhere on every webpage:

• they help define your niche
• name the specific topic of each page on your website,
• assist search engines in understanding your area of expertise, and
• respond very specifically to what the user is seeking or asking.

So, the first step to improve your positioning is to conduct keyword research to precisely understand what your users are searching for.

Afterward, include these keywords throughout your website to make it easy for search engines to find you and consequently show you to users who align with your ideal clients.

There are dozens of tools you can use for this, such as Google's keyword planner, Semrush, Ahrefs, and more.

You might be surprised by how users interact on the web to find your type of business. Leverage that information and present yourself to them.

#2 Create quality content

Search engines love fresh and relevant content.

Share your medical knowledge through blogs, articles, or educational videos that are informative and, above all, valuable to your potential clients.

This not only demonstrates your expertise and genuine interest in helping users but also keeps your audience engaged by consuming your content and navigating your website.

Golden key: Share on your social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, contents linking to articles on your website in fresher or more dynamic formats, such as videos, live sessions, image carousels, among others.

#3 Optimize site speed

If a new patient walks into your office right now and finds out they have to wait a long time to be seen, would they stay or move on to the next office where there's no waiting or queuing?

They're likely to move on since they don't know you well enough to wait.

The same goes for your online office, i.e., your website.

The user has a query, makes a search, gets various options as a response, and expects that by clicking on any of them, the information will be in front of them in a matter of seconds.

Otherwise, they'll go back and click on another site with better performance. And this is not good for you!

What you want is for people to enter your website and stay there for a couple of minutes, and the loading speed of your website significantly influences that user retention.

Two to three seconds of loading is fine, one to two is perfect.

Now, how do you improve your site's loading speed?

• Optimize images
• Minimize code
• Cache storage
• Optimize server code
• Enable compression
• Reduce the number of elements on a page
• Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
• Regularly run speed tests.

Remember that when we improve a website, we do it with the user in mind, not what we find "cooler" or more aesthetic.

#4 Interlinking

Interlinking, or internal linking, is like connective tissue for your website; it strengthens its structure and enhances the user experience.

Here are some key guidelines to make the most of this strategy:

• Contextual Links

Within your content, incorporate links to relevant pages. These links should provide context, offering additional or complementary information on the topic the user is exploring.

• Content Hierarchy

Use interlinking to establish a clear hierarchy on your site. Link from pages of higher authority or relevance to those that can benefit from greater visibility.

This not only helps search engines understand your site's structure but also improves user navigation.

• Avoid Excess

More isn't always better. Avoid saturating your pages with unnecessary links, as this can be overwhelming for users and counterproductive for search engines.

Select links that genuinely add value to the visitor's experience.

• Constant Update

Keep your links updated as your content evolves.

If you've created new pages or published relevant content, make sure to link them from other relevant parts of your site. This helps keep your website fresh and dynamic.

• Data Analysis

Use analytical tools to assess the effectiveness of your internal links. See which links receive more clicks and adjust your strategy accordingly.

This allows you to continuously optimize your linking structure.

#5 Responsive Design

Adopting a design approach that smoothly adjusts to different screen sizes not only enhances the user experience but is also crucial for positioning.

Google values adaptability, and a responsive design not only facilitates navigation but also boosts your visibility in search results.

Sixty-four percent of searches are conducted from a mobile phone, compared to 35% from a computer.

Millions of users research, consult, purchase, and browse from their mobile devices. Having your website adapt to this reality will significantly improve its online positioning.

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Now that you know all this... Don't underestimate the impact of every click or visit.

Every improvement you implement benefits not only your potential patients but also signals to search engines that you are committed to offering the best.

Optimize, adapt, and watch as your online positioning climbs to the top results!